Let it Raine
by greeneyedvengeance
Summary: Rossi called in a favor owed. Raine was more than happy to join the group and help them catch an unsub. She just wasn't expecting to fall for a team member along the way. warning:There is slight cursing.
1. Chapter 1

Don't own the characters. If I did, I wouldn't have time to write these stories. ;)

"Did you do as I requested?"

Long black hair with rainbow streaks peeking throughout the underneath layer was tossed over one shoulder with a smooth flick of the wrist. "Of course. I must admit, it doesn't look too good. Not one single person on the team even realized they were being observed. Is that the reason I'm being called in?"

The man on the left shook his head in the negative fashion, while the man on the right gripped onto the edge of the small table. Turbulence seemed to set him on edge.

The girl once again spoke, clicking her tongue in annoyance. "Gentleman, I know you have a need for secrecy in the line of work that you do. Trust me, I get it. But, the fact of the matter is this... You," she said pointing a long black fingernail at the calmer man, " You are the one that hunted me down and requested this. My ass was happy in the hawaiian island sipping mai ti's on the beach. I owed you a favor, and agreed to pay it off by coming back in for this assignment. I can't do the job properly without being filled in with some details."

The man to her right was still holding his white-knuckled grip onto the table, but managed to nod his head in approval. "I agree Hotch, she does really need to know why I pulled this favor. You requested the best, I delivered. Now you need to explain it to her."

The man on the left, Hotch, seemed to debate internally before complying with the request. A beige file folder was pushed across the desk towards her. "As you can tell, my team is damn good at their jobs," he began. "Unfortunately, there is someone in an outside unit that is gunning for us. I'm not certain if the goal is to kill one of us, or just break the team apart. That is what we need you for. Any suggestions?"

The girl flipped the folder opened, shuffling through the thirty or so odd pages in quick fashion while ignoring the over-head voice announcing the plane would be landing in twenty minutes.

"Only ever seen one other person read that fast," Rossi said softly, aiming the comment more towards Hotch.

He murmered a slight "mhm," under his breath, but remained silent while waiting for the girl to speak.

The folder was shut slowly. "I think it would be best to do it this way..."

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"The opposing team is already in the building," Hotch announced, shrugging his shoulder to get his automatic weapon better situated on his shoulder. It was hanging down past his waist, but kept getting caught on one of the velcro straps of his vest. "Now pay attention guys. The teams are NOT evenly divided up. Inside, there are over twenty players, so to make things fair, we have one addition to our group. Our tactical gear is obviously black. It is our own gear that we wear out in the field. The opposite taem is wearing their own gear also. The colors are black and purple. Now, we have lent one of our FBI vest to the addition to our team just to stop any confusion. Try not to shoot our own team, yeah?"

Hotch looked around, waiting for head nods and "affirmatives," to be mumbled out. JJ, Morgan, Dr' Reid, Hotch, Rossi, and one other person were already suited up and ready to roll.

The entire team was on high alert, readly to go into the building and knock down targets. The only thing out of place was the one addition to the team. Each member was giving subtle glances, looking up, then sideways to catch a glimpse of the figure standing by themself against the far wall.

"Hotch, we good to go?" Morgan finally asked, adjusting his ear piece to sit more firmly.

Hotch glanced around, almost giving the go-ahead before his gaze came to rest on the single person at the wall. Thumb hooked into thumbs, they wiggled each finger in a movement similar to making a shadow puppet.

"Right," he amended quickly. "Guys, listen up. Since this is just a drill, there are a few quick things to remember. The guns have paintball pellets in them, so don't act like your going to die if you get shot. No melodramatics or screaming if you get hit. Our color is neon green. The opposite team has vibrent red color. Yes, it will look like blood, but it was the only color available besides dark blue. Blue wouldn't show up on our vests.

"Also," he added quickly, "If there does happen to be a problem, a serious problem the needs immediate attention, the code word is BUTTERFLY. Got it? If ANYONE yells the code word, immediately stop what you are doing, stay exactly where you are no matter where that is, and drop your weapon into it's sling. Do NOT move from your location until your given the all-clear."

A few laughs were given, along with slight hushed murmers within the team about how silly the code word is.

"Hotch, I don't want to sound rude or step out of place, but shouldn't we know who the other person is on our team?" JJ finally asked, earning thankful looks from the team. No one else wanted to speak up about it first.

Hotch chanced a glance towards the mysterious person, but managed to avert his gaze to Rossi. Rossi was the one who answered. "After the game, all will be revealed," he teased. "They are wearing a face mask for anonimity, but I will tell you this. The person standing before you is THEE best undercover sniper that I have ever seen. It was a personal favor of mine that they come out and join us with this. Try to sluth out any problems that our team might have and let us know how better to improve our group as a whole. If by chance, something is found, we will work on it."

"We are allowed to communicate with each other, right?" Morgan questioned.

"Of course," Hotch admitted.

"So what do we call them?" Reid piped up, running his hands along his vest as a last minute check of his gear.

At this, everyone looked at both Hotch and Rossi, but both men turned their focus to the new addition. Rossi was the one that answered. "Call sign RAINE. Any other questions for now?"

Curious glances were once again given, but nothing was said out loud. Hotch gave the go-ahead, and JJ too point at the door. "Three. Two. One..."

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"This is sooo unfair," Garcia's voice spoke up through each person's ear piece. "I should have been allowed to join in on this. When will I ever get a chance to be out in the field with you guys without the possibility of really getting injured?"

Morgan gave a deep grumble of a laugh. "Baby Girl, try to stay focused for us, yeah? We still have six targets hiding in here."

Hotch joined in. "Garcia, we're down to four players. Your monitoring us. How about giving us some useful advice. Notice anything that will help us next time?"

"Not so far sir, but like I said previously when the game begain, each team has their own unique style, plus they were allowed to go in ahead of time and scope the building out to get the layout and hiding positions. I guess that's like real life tho, right?" she gave a small chuckle at the end. "I'll keep observing."

Rossi was the first one to get tagged, blood red paint splattered all over his right shoulder. JJ was the next, three seperate shots peppered across her chest and stomach. Both members were sitting outside of the building at the mock command center, watching the rest of thir team over Garcia's shoulder. Every few minutes, one or two of the opposite team that were tagged out would come over and make small talk, watching the monitors along with them and chuckling.

"He's good," one remarked, gesturing towards the lone figure on the screen. "I would guess secret service or marines."

Rossi stayed silent, a small smirk hovering on his lips.

JJ stared at the screen, head tilted as she observed. "What I don't get is, your team is used to training with us," she said, talkng to the man next to her. "That means that even tho it's a different style, all of you would have some similarities with our team. This guy doesn't. See how the first thing he does is look up? Before even sweeping the room, he looks up and scans the ceilings."

"Maybe he's used to his normal team covering his back?" Garcia asked, right hand clicking furiously to switch between cameras with each step the team took inside.

"Guys, this isn't helping," Reid remarked inside. "We can hear everything you are saying. Anything helpful you want to add? Remeber, this guy is on our side, and took out 11 of the opposite team. Cut him some slack."

"Sorry, junior G-man," Garcia rambled, a slight blush fusing her cheeks. "I forgot we were on an open line. By my estimate, you have three more rooms to check, and six more unsub-...wait, scratch that. Three more to find," she said, slightly breathless with awe. "Man, that Raine guy is awesome. You go man," she practically shouted, watching as three more targets were taken out.

Morgan chuckled once again at Garcia's outburst, careful to cover Hotch's back. Reid pulled the next door opened and leaned back, letting the others storm into the next room before following behind Raine. He had to admit, the new guy on thier team was a damn good sniper. Rossi deserved a ton of thanks for bringing him in to help them do their 6 month training.

"Morgan," a muffled voice spoke, "Seven o'clock."

Morgan spun, pelting an opposing team member with paint fire. Bright green splatter showed up right over the heart area. "Thanks Raine," he said.

Thirteen people were still shuffling along outside, watching the monitors and making small talk. The others that were tagged out were further away at the snack tables, eatting and getting drinks.

Back inside, Raine was getting annoyed. It wasn't that she didn't want to be there. Quite the opposite actually. She was having a blast. After being on a break for so long, it was good to feel a gun in her hand again, and having that farmiliar heavy weight of her tactical suit on again.

No, she was annoyed at all the chatter in her ear. "this guy is good. No, that guy is..." Blah. Blah. Blah. Even in full gear, they had to be able to tell that she was a girl, right? She was only 5'2, weight possibly a buck twenty at most.

A cold chill ran down her spine suddenly, her focus going up towards the ceiling through the doorway to the right of her. A soft click of a weapon being armed was heard past the soft footfalls around her.

She ran forward, grabbing the tall, skinny guy in front of her and pulling him to her left side. "BUTTERFLY!" she screamed, shoving Reid back against the wall and making him fall on his ass.

Hotch and Morgan immediately stopped what they were doing, letting their weopons fall to their sides to swing on the shoulder rigs. The three other targets stood up, weapons also swinging freely by their sides. Two were behind the far wall, one was up towards the ceiling, kneeling on a beem running the length of the room.

"Raine." Hotch's deep voice ran out. "What's wrong? Can we move?"

"Stay still," she said. "Don't move. No one move."

A soft gasp from Garcia came through the ear pieces. "Holy smokes.. The voice...She's a girl!"

"Garcia," she coughed, pulling the top of her face mask and letting her long hair fall around her body. THe bottom part followed, being pulled down around her neck to finally reveal her face. "Everyone outside, grab your real weapons. There's a rogue in here."

A few people shouted, tons of pistols and .35's being grabbed and armed outside while Garcia furiously started typing and clicking away.

"No one else enter the building. Stay outside," Raine repeated. "Just be ready if they flee."

She was hunched down, body still facing out towards the room as she observed everyone in sight. "Hotch, take three big steps to your right until your out of sight from the hallway. Morgan, the same to your left. Dude up in the rafters, stay where you are, but try to aim for the hallway and give cover. The other two, make you way over here as fast as you ca-"

Her voice cut off, body falling limply back against the wall. She would have fallen all the way to the floor, but suprisingly strong arms caught her and pulled her down across another body, cradling her to their chest.

A sharp intake of breath was heard over the mic's, followed by a frantic voice. "Armor-piercing rounds. Guys, she's been shot twice!" Reid screamed, jumping to action. He laid her out along the floor beside him, careful to stay away from the doorway as he made quick work of unfastening her vest.

"Stop. STOP Reid," she begged, trying to sit up. "HOTCH, 1 O'clock!"

Both Morgan and Hotch aimed towards the doorway while Raine shoved Reid back against the wall. A round of shots rang out before sudden silence.

"Garcia, anything?" Morgan barked out, eyes scanning as far into the other rooms as they could.

"No...No nothing," she replied slightly breathless. "There isn't even a heat signature coming from any other place but the room all of you are in. What should I do? What should I do? Someone tell me what to do!"

"Quiet," Raine gasped out, pushing herself to the side closest to the doorway. "Everyone go radio silent. I need absolute quiet," she whispered, not able to raise her voice any louder.

It was hard, and hurt like a bitch, but she managed to lean forward, grabbing a clip from her left boot that held actual rounds inside of it before popping the paint clip out of her extra .35 and sliding in the real one.

She leading back once again, pressing her back again the wall as hard as she could, letting her head fall sideways so her ear was pressed against the wall.

She did quite a few things simultaniously. First, she tapped Reid on his leg, motioning his to lean back away from her. Second, she pressed the barrel of the gun a fraction of a breath away from the wall, moving it up, then down, then slightly left and right as she listened.

"Garcia," Raine mumbled, control your breathing or get off the line. I need to listen."

A small click in her ear told her that Garcia switched off the Com's. It seemed like hours, but in reality, only took about twenty seconds. She got to her knees slowly, ear still pressed against the wall listening intently before she fired 4 rapid shots through the plaster of the wall right above her left temple.

A soft thud was heard, followed by a metalic clatter and one further shot.

Raine let out a soft gasp as she dropped to the floor. Bright red blood splatter running down her chest to mix with the stomach wound.

"Hotch," she whispered out, trying as hard as she could to keep her eyes opened. "Hotch, I found your problem. We got hi-"

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This was a random idea that I had for a few weeks. After it wouldn't leave my brain, I jotted it down. Leave some love. Let me know if anyone would be interested in a few more chapters instead of leaving it as a one-shot.


	2. Chapter 2

Okay guys, I'm new to posting on this particular site, so I can't figure out why my update of the first chapter didn't actually go through to show up on the page. So... I don't own Criminal mind. Don't sue. All I own is the character Raine...and the story idea.

Please leave a review and let me know how this is going. Origionally, this was to be a one-shot. Quite a few messages convinced me to contine it. So I'm not really sure how long this will end up to be. Maybe quite a few chapters...maybe a full story. Who knows.

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Hotch and Rossi were in a hospital room, devoid of patients at the present moment. They decided to use an empty room to have their descussion.

"We can't tell her right now. It wouldn't be fair to her."

Hotch nodded. "I agree. She's completely out of it anyways. I doubt she would understand what was going on."

Rossi looked at Hotch with a hint of sadness showing at the corners of his mouth. "Hotch...is this our fault? I called her on the favor owed to me because you asked for the best. Now she almost died because of us."

Hotch held up his hands to stop the tirade. "We only asked her to come. We gave her the option the back out and she agreed to help us. Plus," he added quickly, " She didn't have to get shot. She chose to take the bullets to protect Reid. All of us watched the video feed numerous times and saw te same thing. She knew it was goingto happen each and every time, but placed herself in the line of fire. We can't blame ourselves for that."

Another voice spoke up, anger lacing each and every word as Morgan walked into the room. "So your blaming her for this? Seriously?! You can't expect to call someone that owes you a favor, have them deliver in high fashion even better than expected, and then blame them for doing what you asked them to do. Come on guys...she deserves praise and respect for protecting our aasses!"

Both Rossi and Hotch raised their hands as if to ward off a blow. "Whoa, Morgan, Hold up will ya?" Rossi interrupted. "We aren't blaming her for this. Just saying that it was her choice to take the shots and protect Reid."

Morgan seemed to calm down a knotch or two, but both men could tell her was still ready to defend the girl laying in the next room over. He ran a hand across his face before speaking. "The first shot, yes. I'll conceed to that. That second shot was aimed at one of us tho," he remarked, loooking directly at Hotch. "The third one...guys that last one was fatal. How did-"

"Derek," Rossi interrupted. "She took the hit to protect Reid. We aren't placing blame on anyone but the shooter. She WANTED to do this for us. Asking why this, and Why that will drive us all crazy. We won't really know any answers until she wakes up and can give us a recount of what happened from her point-of-view."

"Go and get the others," Hotch piped up. "We need to get back to the bullpen and work the rest of this case."

"Reid isn't going to leave," Morgan warned. "He's been here for six days now. Since he got the all-clear with the rest of us when she was brought in. I think he can just finish the reports here, right?"

Hotch shook his head slowly. "Not just paperwork. Haven't any of you been filled in to what happened this morning?"

When Morgan shook his head in the negative, Hotch continued. "A packaged arrived at the BAU. A voodoo doll was tied up and bound in the box, looking errily like our very own Miss Raine. Pins were sticking out of the exact spots where she was shot, and there was trace amounts of blood on the pins. It was her blood."

Morgan frowned. "So it was either lifted from the crime scene, or someone in the hospital got it?"

"Or someone that knows her personally managed to get it before she arrived," Rossi interjected.

"I'll let the others know what is going on," Morgan countered. "I can pretty well garentee that Reid isn't going to leave her here alone, and he is definately not going to be happy about this showing up."

Both men stared at Hotch as he gave a sudden, abrupt laugh, his eyes flashing with amusement before going back to the devoid of emotion state that he normally wore.

"What struck you?" Rossi asked

Hotch shook his head, more to himself than either agent. "I have a feeling this is going to be one interesting development."

"Interesting devel- ...Hotch, what is going on in that head of yours? I don't understand," Morgan admitted.

Rossi gave a quick bark of a laugh. "Derek, your pretty boy is growing up."

Morgan shook his head in defeat. He wasn't going to understand what they were talking about just yet, but he was tired of asking. Without a word he turned around and left the room, walking the few feet down the hall to the adjoining room door and entering.

Garcia was curled up in the corner chair, seemingly sound asleep with a laptop perched precariously on her lap. JJ was laying bext to Garcia on the small couch, looking up with tired eyes as Morgan entered. Reid, however, didn't even bother to look away from what he was doing.

Having an idetic memory was both a blessing and a curse. It was a curse because for the past week, each single breath of a moment replayed in his mind as he tried to figure out what he could have done differently to avoid this. What simple move could he have changed to avoid the girl laying in front of him getting shot for him. Not once, but twice. Even after watching the tapes numerous times, and every team member assuring him that there wasn't anything he could have done differently, he wouldn't believe them.

But there was some good that came out of having an idetic memory. Anything he read thruoghout his entire life was ingrained in his mind. He had no need of a physical book to be present in front of him to read it.

"Kid, are you paying attention?" Morgan interrupted.

Reid finally stopped talking, chancing a glance away from Raine's sleeping face to look over at Morgan. "What?"

Morgan gave him a sad look. "We have a problem. Everyone, listen up..."

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Morgan was right, much to Reid's chagrin. He did absolutely, under no cercumstances, refuse to leave Raine's room until she was up and about. He knew the fact that she was still unconscipus was probably a good thing. Statistics of trauma, comas, fevers, healing speeds, wounds...everything flew through his head subconsciously, nagging at the back of his mind. he made absolute sure to not pay attention the all of his knowledge, telling him that she had more of a chance of dying where she was laying, than ever waking up and getting back to her baseline normal.

He couldn't bring himself to admit that tho. No, he was determined to sit vigil at her bedside, reciting any and every random book or story, poem or song lyric that popped into his head. When he was talking she would lay there in peace. no expression marred her smooth features. But when he went silent? No. No, he couldn't bare that.

Raine was running a rediculously high fever, even after being subject to numerous ice baths. The room were she lay was a cool 62 degrees, way below the normal 68 degrees of a hospital room. Nightmares plagued her dreams. Pain radiated through each and every limb as she lay there, unable to move or speak.

Why didn't anyone notice she was awake? Why couldn't they give her anything to ease her pain? She knew that the medical staff believed her to be comatose, but didn't they care that the patients were in pain?

A soft cadence of someone speaking to her kept her peaceful. It gave her something to hold on to and anchor her to reality, away from the terrors of her mind. She had to admit, even tho she wasn't quite sure what the words were, or what they were from, there was one thing she was certain of. Reid had an amazing voice. If she could find a way to bottle that voice and sell it, she would be a millionaire by the end of the week.

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It was an adittional five days, bringing the total to 11 days, fifteen hours, 23 minutes, and 18 seconds, to be completely accurate. Almost 12 full days total that Reid sat in mostly solitude, going back and forth betwween holding Raine's limp hand as he spoke softly to her, and laying most of his body across the bed so he too could rest while he played absently with her hair.

He was exhausted, but determined to help her in any way that he could. The few short intervals when he got sleep were few and far between. Each and every time he fell asleep, he would be woken up within the hour by her body writhing on the bed, twisting and contorting in pain. In those rare moments it almost seemed like she was waking up. She would momble things under her breath, leaving out faint gasps of terror that her mind created while the physical pain of moving while dreaming increased her restlessness.

Each and every single time, Reid would jerk away and begin talking to her again, helping to calm her down until she lay still and silent, once again relaxed in his care.

"junior G-man," Garcia said in a soft voice, moving to stretch her legs from her curled up position on the couch. "Why don't you take a quick break, hm? Go get a hot tea to sooth your throat and stretch your legs? I promise I won't leave here. I'll talk to her until you get back."

Reid glanced over to her, debating quickly in his mind before conceeding that he really did need to get up and move around. "Promise?'

Garcia gave him a small smile that he returned. "Of course I promise. Now go, and bring me back a tea too please."

Reid nodded without a remark said out loud, standing up and exiting the room while Garcia stood up and took over his vacated spot.

"Girl, you need to wake up soon. Your scaring all of us, but especially him. He deserves better than this. The stress alone from not sleeping is making him irritable and looking twice his adorable age. I need my junior G-man back, Raine. Morgan needs his pretty boy. JJ is hardly speaking to anyone unless it's to ask how the two of you are. The rest of the team is worried to pieces about the pair of you, and they reaaly need him on the case. Working without him there doesn't go nearly as fast as we normally do.

"I don't know what I can do or say to make you get better faster," Garcia admitted, glancing up at the clock. Noing the time, she reached sideways to grap a wash rag and poured some ice water into the center of it before wiping down the other girl's forehead. Every half hour, whoever was in the room would do this to try and break the rampant fever coursing through her poor body.

"We are down an actua lteam member,: Garcia spoke again softly. "It would be nice if you woke up and maybe agreed to stay on with us. We could always use another female team member, ya know? In the past six years, we went thorugh four different female agents. Only JJ and myself stayed. Plus, I garantee a certain genious would absolutely love and adore you if you joined the team," she whispered, alomst like it was a conspiracy. "Then again, if oyu work together, it might go against company fraternization policy. But I think Hotch could swing it and make it alright just to make a cetain young guy happy."

Garcia let out a soft sigh, placing the now almost hot rag back into the small basin. "Come on Raine, please wake up? I don't even know your first name. Hotch and Rossi forbade me from doing any type of research on you. They said that you would tell us what you want us to know when you wake up. So please... please just open those eyes."

Garcia fell silent as Reid entered the room once again, standing up for him to take back his rightful chair of teh past two weeks. Reid handed her a medium sized cup of hot tea silently, taking a small sip out of his own before picking up the story when he left off. His soft voice filled the small private room as he talked to Raine, Garcia going back over to the couch and settling down to type away on her laptop, helping her team members any way that she could from her current location.

"And have I not told you," Reid stated quitely, reciting a story word for word from his mind," that what you mistake for madness is but over-acuteness of the sense? -now, I say, there came to my ears a low, dull, quick sound, such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I knew that sound well, too. It was the beating of the old man's heart. It increased my fury, as the beating of a drum stimulates the soldier into courage.

But even yet I refrained and kept still. I scarcely breathed. I held the lantern motionless. I tried how steadily I could maintain the ray upon the eve. Meantime the hellish tattoo of the heart increased. It grew quicker and quicker, and louder and louder every instant. The old man's terror must have been extreme! It grew louder, I say, louder every moment! -do you mark me well I have told you that I am nervous: so I am. And now at the dead hour of the night, amid the dreadful silence of that old house, so strange a noise as this excited me to uncontrollable terror. Yet, for some minutes longer I refrained and stood still. But the beating grew louder, louder! I thought the heart must burst. And now a new anxiety seized me -the sound would be heard by a neighbour! The old man's hour had come! With a loud yell, I threw open the lantern and leaped into the room. He shrieked once -once only. In an instant I dragged him to the floor, and pulled the heavy bed over him. I then smiled gaily, to find the deed so far done. But, for many minutes, the heart beat on with a muffled sound. This, however, did not vex me; it would not be heard through the wall. At length it ceased. The old man was dead. I removed the bed and examined the corpse. Yes, he was stone, stone dead. I placed my hand upon the heart and held it there many minutes. There was no pulsation. He was stone dead. His eve would trouble me no more." (1)

Reid paused, taking a slow breath as he reached for his cup of tea and taking another small sip. His voice was more of a low crackling growl at this point instead of his usual boyish cascade. "Raine, I wish I knew if you could even hear me," he finally admitted. "You seem to stay calm and relaxed as long as someone is speaking to you. Is it helping?" he asked softly, leaving off the implyed 'am I helping?'

"I'm the accident prone one," he started again. "I'm the one that always takes the beatings and gets shot. I'm the one that should be lying there. Not you. Not-" his voice failed him. Or maybe it was just his nerves. Having Garci in the room to witness this didn't faze him in the least at this point. No matter what any of his team members said to him, he held on the blame on himself.

He looked down suddenly, straining his ears to hear anything out of place. He could have sworn...but no. She was laying there perfectly normal. nothing was out of place. He even glanced over at Garcia to see if maybe she heard anything, but she was still typing away on her laptop, tryingto aide the teams case from the hospital room. He had to admit, he was happy that she was adamant to stay with Reid, saying that she could solve anything from where she was just as well as she could have from the BAU rooms.

He shook his head to himself. It was wishful thinking on his part. He must have wanted to hear her so bad that his mind played a trick on him. Since he was sleep deprived, he was only hearing what he wanted to he-

"Omen," a raspy breath said, a small choking cough following it.

"Garcia!" Reid said quickly, "Get over here!"

Garcia almost dropped her laptop, she stood up so fast. Letting it fall to the couch along side of her leg, she made quick steps until she was standing beside Reid. "What?! What's goin-"

"Omen," Raine rasped again, blinking unfocused eyes open finally. "You asked me what my name was, Garcia."

Garcia looked about ready to cry, she was just that happy. "Omen. Omen Raine. Oh my. Oh my. Your awake. Finally. Omen, that's such a unique name. Reid, she's awake!" she bellowed, turning quickly and rushing from the room. Her voice echoed all the way down the hall as she called for a doctor or nurse.

Reid looked relieved as he staired down at the raven haired girl. "Do you need anything? Water? Pain medication? A break from listening to my voice?" he tried to joke.

A small smile graced her lips, curving the corners ever so slightly. "Just don't build me a sepulchre right yet," she rasped out. "And no, your voice is wonderful to listen to. Thank you for talking to me all this time."

Reid looked both bemused and happy. "A sepulchre? Why would I- Oh! So you did hear me!"

Raine smiled back at the sheepish boy. "Anabelle Lee was always my favorite. I have a feeling your voice would do it wonders."

Reid finally grinned at her. "If you promise to stay conscious from now on, I promise to give it a go, just for you."

"Agreed."

Reference (1)... exact copy from "the tell-tale heart" by Edgar Allan Poe. All rights go to him.


	3. Chapter 3

Author Update: So yet again guys, I still can't figure out how to go back and update chapter one. Sorry.

I don't own the show. Don't sue.

On a different note, the last chapter had Reid reading Edgar Allen Poe, "The tell-tale heart." Matthew gray Gubler does actually narrarate that, along with "Annabelle Lee". Check it out on Amazon.

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Everyone was getting very annoyed. Hotch, Rossi, JJ, and Morgan were sitting around the table, going over file after file with no clue where to begin or end. They simply didn't know enough to get anything started.

In the same fashion, Garcia was drumming her nails along the bottom of her keyboard, mumbling under her breath while waiting for inspiration to strike. Without orders from the team, she was feeling quite useless.

Raine was quite peaceful, sitting upright in the hospital bed with her legs tucked comfortably underneath her body. She kept shifting her focus back and forth between a very ambitious Garcia, and a finally relaxed, sleeping Reid. She was overjoyed that he was finally getting a well deserved nap, but if she was honest with herself, she did miss the sound of his voice. Now that she was awake and aware of what was going on around her, she could really enjoy the ebb and flow of his rhythmic chatter.

"Garcia," Raine said suddenly, careful to keep her voice low and soft so as to not wake up the sleeping agent at her side. "I have something you can do, if you want to."

Penelope Garcia looked up startled, jumping at the chance to do something constructive. "Anything. Name it and I'll do it."

Raine smirked. "You can look up anything about me."

Garcia's eyes lit up like the forth of July. "Seriously? Anything I can find? No restrictions?"

Omen nodded. "No restrictions. I'm interested to see what you can dig up about me."

They sat in utter silence, the only sound being a soft sigh every now and again from a sleeping Reid, and the clicking of keys while Garcia let loose on her keyboard. It took about half an hour before Raine broke the silence.

"Hey Penelope? Do you have like, an Ipod or something? I'd like something to listen to but I don't want him to wake up."

Penelope snorted, knowing that at the present moment, her junior G-man would sleep through anything. The poor kid was utterly exhausted. "He won't wake up. Anything in particular you want to hear?"

Raine shook her head. "I listen to everything from Marilyn Manson, to Garth Brooks, to Opera. Whatever you can tolerate will be fine with me."

Garcia opened up her music app on her laptop and set it to random. Neither one knew exactly what song was playing, but both were happy to have some background noise.

Seconds tourned to minutes. Minutes into hours. Nurses and three doctors came and went, checking vitals and giving medicines. Sometime during the course of the day, Raine got her hands on a notebook and a lime green pen. It actually wrote in a lovely violet purple shade. She liked it.

Garcia startled suddenly, the clicking of keys coming to a halt as she looked up to the bed. "Your not who you say you are."

Raine didn't bother to look up from her note book, instead deciding to murmer a slight "mhm," while continuing to work. "Anything else?"

Penelope gave a low growl, scowling at the woman. "Nothing. Abso-freaking-lutely nothing. I'm damn good at what I did. Dare I say possibly one of the best. But you...you don't exist. How do you not exist?"

Raine decided to look up, giving the other woman a huge grin. "Done digging now? Is your curiosity satisfied?"

Garcia let her mouth drop open, gaping in surprise. "How could I possibly be satisfied? Now I have even more questions. How did you do it? who are you? Give me something!"

Raine chuckled. "It really is my last name, if that would help you at all. I'll even give you a starting point. the last four of my social is 5555."

Garcia frowned. "Your being serious. 5555?"

"Mhm."

Furious typing started up again and lasted until a new song came on the music station. Four loud beeps sounded, cutting into the smooth Jazz song that was playing.

"Garcia," Hotch's voice came out through the speakers. "Have you found anything new yet?"

"Sorry sir, no dice," she answered sadly, turning her body so she was practically sitting backwards on the couch. Atleast this way, Raine coould see the screen, and the team could see both of them.

Morgan leaned forward, his face almost filling the entire screen. "Is that Reid? In bed with you?" he questioned.

Raine narrowed her eyes. "He's been awake for almost 12 straight days. If you make fun of him for sleeping next to me I swear to god I will kick your firm chocholate a-"

"Whoa whoa, hold up there," Morgan said quickly, leaning away from the screen and throwing his hands up. "It was just a question."

Both girls could see everyone else in the room trying to hide their amusement at the situation. Raine let it go. "Have any of you figured out how the unsub got my blood for the doll?"

Negatives all around. She frowned at that, but kept her comments to herself. "So...am I a target?"

Rossi confirmed it. "It seems apparent that there was more than one Unsub working together. You took out the one at the practice grounds. His partner must have been close and somehow took a sample of your blood."

Raine let it process for a moment. "Or someone at the hospital here could have taken it. That would seem more likely. If it was from the building, that would mean the unsub would have to be in law enforcement."

"What if it was one of the trainees?" Morgan theorized out loud. "They were in the building with us playing the other team. Someone might have been ticked off that you were so good at taking their team down. Probably doesn't help their ego when they found out your a female."

Garcia was about to say something not too nice, but Raine cut her off. "He's right. A lot of men don't take too kindly to being shown up by a woman. Wouldn't we have seen someone there take it tho? I mean, it was all documented and recorded. We all watched those videos and didn't see anything out of place."

"When you went down at the end, a lot of people were standing there trying to help. One of them could have nicked some blood on their hands or something and didn't bother to wash off afterwards. Does that sound like something that could have happened?" JJ questioned.

"The vest," a groggy voice spoke up beside Raine, actually making her jump.

"What was that?" Hotch asked, leaning closer to the montior on his side.

Reid sat upright, running a tired hand through his hair. "The gear she was wearing had her blood all over it. It would have been taken into evidence lockup. That would be the simplest answer."

A lull in the conversation took place while everyone procesed Reid's new break through.

"That means it is a local LEO.," Garcia piped up. "I'll look into everyone that had access to it. Anything else?"

"Not that I can think of Garcia," Rossi answered. "Let us know what you find."

"Will do, my wonderful Italian man," she said. "Hey Rossi, before you go...What is Raine's first name?"

Rossi let out a bark of a laugh. "I don't feel like being shot today, Penelope. Do your homework and find out."

Garcia looked like a petulent child, stomping her foot and pouting from her seat. "That's so unfair. Alright, I'll hit you back when I got something."

Her screen went black as she swung her body back around to the proper sitting position. Reid slid off the bed, a slight blush suffusing his pale face. "You should have woken me," he said softly, sheepishly letting his hair fall forward to cover his eyes.

Raine shrugged. "There wasn't a need to. You were tired, and I was comfortable. No harm. no foul. You can lay back down if your still tired."

Reid's eyes went impossibly huge at the thought. "N-no," he stammered. "I'm awake now. Need a drink or anything? I'm going to go get a coffee. Do you want a coffee? You know, statistically spaeking, humans can functio-"

Raine laughed, cutting him off. "You can get me a coffee too, triple-triple."

Garcia took a glance up at that. "What does that meaan?"

"Triple sugar, triple cream," Reid answered, already walking out of the room.

Garcia gave a small smile, looking back down at her keyboard. "Perfect pair," she mumbled, just loud enough for Raine to hear it. She wasn't really sure if the other woman did hear it, but wasn't going to comment further.

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It was two days later and Raine's hospital room looked like a poor attempt of a clown car. The entire BAU team was standing around while Four nurses and two doctors checked Raine out for any type of complications. The reason for so many medical staff being present was for teaching purposes.

After being put through numberous tests and stretching exercises, she was cleared to leave. Finally. A sling across her right shoulder and arm, huge ace bandage covering her rib cage from armpits to sternum, and a major limp to her step...she was making a fairly good recovery.

"We can't put you in a wheel chair," an orderly was explaining to Raine as the entire team slowly made their way down the long hospital corridor. "If we did, it would put too much pressure on your stitches along your ribs and tear them wide open again.

"Will she be okay to be sitting in a vehicle?" Hotch asked, now more concerned at the young girl's dilemma. "We didn't even think of the implications of the type of care needed..."

His voice trailed off, waiting for a response. "A vehicle should be fine as long as you try to avoide any sudden stops and bumps along the way. Be careful to keep the wounds clean and sterile..." she prattled on and on.

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The normal thirty-five minute drive turned into almost two hours. Granted, they did make a small pit stop to pick up her medication and some extra bandages for future use. The ride was slow, but smooth. Morgan was driving, and for once he was being very cautious while focusing on the road, careful to avoid any unnessisary bumps along the way.

Once they reached their destination, a slight problem arose. She was sitting in a very perculiar position for almost two hours, leaving the wounds to relax into that position. Now she couldn't move without extreame pain shooting all throughout her body.

"Do you have a solution, or would you rather one of us just jerk you to your feet? Rip the band-aid off type of deal?" Morgan questioned, being both serious and sympathetic.

"You'd rip every stitch and staple I have," Raine countered, almost to the point of tears. The pain relief medication that she received at the hospital had worn off almost an hour previous. "I'm honestly not sure how to go about this."

They all stood around outside of the vehicle, looking at at her while trying to figure out a solution. It came as a great surprise to everyone when Hotch moved forward, leaning into the vehicle and scooping up Raine gently into his arms. It took a few seconds to get properly situated before he stood straight upright, cradling her body against his chest.

"I feel really silly now," she whinned, humor lacing each word.

"Don't be," he said simply. "You weigh barely the same as my son does. This isn't all the difficult."

Nothing more was said as the team trailed behind the pair, making their way into the BAU. Hotch didn't stop until he got into the conference room. Making his way towards the far wall, no one was suprised to see a long plush couch was suddenly just there in the room. He walked over and gently laid Raine out along the cushions, maknig sure not to jostle her too much.

"You good?" he finally asked as he stepped back.

"Fantastic," she bit out sarcastically, more aggrivated with herself than anything else. "Sorry, that wasn't aimed at you. I'm just in pain."

"Your meds are right here," Garcia announced, bringing up the rear of the group. She had all of Raine's belongings mixed in with her own, shoved into a deep pocket tote bag. "Do you want water or coffe to wash them down?"

"Just give me the bottle," Raine bit out, trying her hardest not to hunch over as sharp cramps racked her mid-section. She snatched the bottle from Garcia and popped two pills into her mouth, swallowing them dry.

The rest of the group were a bit uneasy, yet understanding that her mood was changing due to her condition. They ignored her for the moment, letting her to her own vices while they settled around the table.

"So where are we at?" Rossi asked, getting the meeting started. "Any new developments?"

Garcia stood, taking her place in front of the wall monitors. "I narrowed it down to these 8 people. Five men, three women. All within the local LEO's. I need more criteria to dig deeper."

"Alright.." JJ started, thinking out loud. "Let's look at it this way. Who on that lis-"

A knock interrupted whatever she was about to say. One of the mail runners delivered a small brown package addressed to a one Miss Raine. Rossi lept from his chair and grabbed the package before the mail currier could take a step further. With a dismissal wave of his hand, rossi sent the man away before placing the package on the table.

"Go ahead," Raine remarked at Rossi's glance. She knew what he was asking.

Ever so carefully, he cut the box flaps opened, revealing a bizzare sight. a small figurine of a black cat, a broken piece of mirror with blood around the edges (which would probably test out to be hers), and the talon of an owl.

"I don't get it, do you?" Morgan commented, looking at Reid for his all knowing answers.

Strange as it was to all of them present, Reid shook his head in the negative. "Can't think of a thing actually," he commented.

Raine gave a morose laugh under her breath. "Omens," she breathed.

Six pairs of eyes turned to look at her. She looked back the each pair before coming to settle on Reid's hazel eyes that were laced with worry.

"Omens," she said again, voice softer than before. "Omens for Omen. Fitting, no?"


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Yet again guys... Don't own, don't sue. Hope everyone enjoys! Review and favorite please.

Chapter 4

The entire team was quiet, their sole focus on the unusually calm girl laying on the couch. She was almost errationally collected and cool, staring back at them with a blank expression.

"I am talking out loud, right?" she asked. "Anyone have a comment?"

Morgan was the first to break the silence. "This doesn't freak you out at all, does it?"

Raine shook her head. "Not the first time I had some freak out to get me," she commented off-handedly. "Besides, everything in the box symbolizes a death omen. It's just a play on my name to get me to freak out. Since I already exprected something like this after the doll, there is no longer a reason to fear it."

"Good point," Rossi agreed, still looking at her curiously. "Still, are you sure your alright?"

"Quite," she agreed. "Now, I'm going to assume at least one of you is going to pull the over-protectiive parent role, I'm stuck here in the BAu, right? So...what's the next move?"

Hotch crossed his arms. "You would be correct. We," he said, motioning the the team, "are going to go out and canvas the area. See if we can track down who sent the package. Garcia is going to go back and do what she does best. You are going to lay here and try to rest. If you end up hurting yourself by doing anything that you shouldn't be...Let's just say the parent figure will be me."

Raine tried, and failed to stop the bemused snort that escapped her. "Okay DAD. Anything else?"

"Yeah," Hotch moentioned, a small smirk quirking his lips. "Pick someone to stay here with you."

"Hotch, I don't need a babysit-"

"Don't argue with me," he interrupted, cutting off any argument she was going to have. "Your going to be even more stiff later and your gunna need help moving around. Pick someone, or I'll call the hospital and have someone come out."

"That won't be nessisary," Raine bit out. "Fine, can't Garcia stay with me. Just give me a phone and I'll call her if I need anything."

"I doubt she would mind," Hotch agreed, seeming to relax from the parenting role and falling right back into his FBI persona. "I'll have someone bring you in a phone in a moment. Try to get some sleep."

Raine nodded her agreement, a bit ticked off at having to conceed to someone else. She also missed the slight look of hurt a certain haazel-eyed guy gave her. She just assumed everyone would want to be out and about, doing what they were good at. Garci was already in the building, so it only made sense in her mind to pick her.

Ignoring everyone leaving the room, Raine finally let her muscles rest, laying back against the couch and closing her eyes.

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"Omen. Omen, wake up!"

Raine jolted awake, a gasp escaping her partched throat as waves of pain crashed through her body. She completely forgot for those few seconds that she shoudn't move normally.

"What? What's wrong?"

Garcia was standing over her, worry etching her features. "You were screaming. Nightmare?"

She thought it over quickly, shaking her head. "Garcia, I think... Bring your computer in here. Quickly."

Thankfully, Penelope didn't ask any questions. She hurried out of the room and came back inside within the minute carrying her laptop. "Tell me what you need," she said simply.

Raine struggled to get into an comfortable position. "First, I need you to call Hotch or Rossi. Tell them to bring the team back in." She waited for Garcia to call them before she continued. "I need you to look up Amelia Rose. Find out where she is."

"Okay. Okay let's see. It looks like... there are 187 people with that name. Narrow it down."

Raine swung her feet to the floor, wanting to lean forward to look at the screen. "Birthday would be October 31st, 1986."

"Gotcha. Okay, it looks lik- oh dear," Garcia suddenly looked like she was about to cry. "How did you know?"

Raine frowned, then realized what Garcia meant. Her eyes closed in sorrow. "When did she die?"

Garcia opened her mouth to answer, but the door swinging opened interrupted the conversation. The team came storming inside, most of them taking their seats around the table while JJ and Reid actually hopped up on the table to sit.

"What's the deal, Garcia?" Rossi questioned. "Where we at?"

Garcia looked at him before looking back at Raine. "What are we doing."

Raine shook her head, mostly to herself. Her voice cracked as she spoke. "Penelope, when and how did she die?"

"How did wh-" Morgan started. He let the sentence trail off as Reid reached over, touching his arm to get his attention and motioning to Raine. A single lone tear trailed down a pale cheek as she looked up.

Garcia began talking. "LEO's found the body in her bedroom. Her throat was slit wide opened and..oh dear. Her heart was missing. How did you know something happened to her? Who is she?"

Raine let out a sob, closing her eyes once again. Her entire body seemed to fold into itself as her shoulder shook with grief.

Without a word, Reid lept off the table where he was perched and ran over to the couch, pulling Raine slowly into his arms so he wouldn't hurt her. He made small circles along her back with his palms, trying to soothe her crying. "Raine, tell us what's wrong. How do you know this girl?" He whispered.

They all sat in silence for a few minutes until she could catch her breath. Once she seemed to gain her composure, she began to speak, still nestled in Reid's embrace.

"Her Real name is Cecilia. Cecilia Raine. She's-" her voice broke off as another soft sob escaped. It was like she couldn't make the words come out properly. If she said it out loud, that would make it true. It couldn't be true. It just couldn't.

"So she's related to you," Jj said simply. "We know your very heart broken right now, but we need to know what's going on. Tell us what is so important about this girl."

Raine took a few quick, deep breaths to compose herself. "The blood on the doll and the mirror didn't come from me. It's not mine," she finally said, looking up at Rossi with tears leaving wet trails down her face. She knew her old friend would understand.

"Oh no. No Omen, I'm so sorry," Rossi remarked softly. "Are you sure it's her?"

Raine nodded. "Pretty sure. Garcia, can you find her picture from the M.E.? I'm fairly sure I know what all of this is about now."

Garcia nodded, typing away to pull up the picture once the medical examiner would send it.

Morgan spoke up again, confusion still written across his features. "I still don't get it. The blood tested back to you. Even if it was a sibling, it wouldn't show up as youra, right?"

He looked at Reid for conformation. Reid shook his head in warning, tightening his grip around the inconsolable girl in his arms.

A picture appeared on the far wall, showing two images. The first was the image of the dead body laid out on the table, sheet covering from shoulders down. Her face looked somber and innocent. The second image was of two girl smiling in what looked to be a backyard. The girl on the lef had a small black mark near the right corner of her bottom lip. The other girl had the same mark on the left side.

It would have been comical, if not for the tradgic nature of the situation. Each team member seemed to take turns, first looking the the images, then glancing at Raine before shifting back to the pictures.

Reid hugged RAine harder, mindful of her injuries. Speaking low, his voice was the perfect cadence of raw emotion, and somber expertise of knowledge. "Morgan, the only way for two people to have the exact same blood type is if they are identical twins."


	5. Chapter 5

Once again, don't own, don't sue.

How is everyone liking this story so far? Anything in particular that anyone would like to see in future chapters?

Oh, and so you all know...I'm a college student so my time is severely lacking. I write in my free time, so posts will be crazy with timing. Sometimes one a day for a few days, then I may disappear for like 5 o six. Sorry in advance.

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"She's dead because of me."

The team was still sitting around in the conference room, :istening to Raine's whispered confession. Each member had their own distinct reactions. JJ was pissed off. Morgan looked determined. Hotch was stoic. Rossi sympathetic. Garcia looked like she would fall to pieces any moment. The only one who seemed unaffected was Reid. He sat on the couch somberly, holding Raine protectively as she spoke.

"The last case I ever worked was in Chicago. A serial killer was killing sets of twins and we followed him there. He was caught and I was the one who took him down. Somehow he found out that I was the one who took him down and he contacted me from prison. He said he would get out one day, and the first person on his new list was me."

Hotch stepled his fingers together, resting his chin along his fingertips. "Where did he contact you?"

"My cell phone."

Garcia didn't need to be told. A few keystrokes later, the recorded phone call played thruogh the speakers to fill the room.

"I know..where you are..." a taunting voice growled out, dragging out each word like a childish taunt. "I'll get out of here sooner than you think. I'll make you regret what you have done. You won't escape from me a second time."

The recording clicked off. "I was told that I would be notified if he was released," Raine commented. "Why wasn't I told?"

Rossi gave her a small smile. "You aren't exactly easy to find, cara," he answered, the term of endearment rolling out easily. "It took me and Hotch over two months to find you,"

"I have someone working there that should have told me," Raine explained. "We speak at least once a week. They should have said something."

"Does it really matter now?" Morgan questioned. "The fact is, somehow he escaped and now you are being hunted. Only question is why he went after your sister."

Raine grimmaced. "He goes after twins. Since he could get to me...she was the easier target. She died because I messed up."

"Hey now, don't blame yourself. You know better than that," Reid remarked, gently squeezing her shoulder affectionately. "We'll find this guy. No one is going to get past us to get to you."

Raine laughed at that, more in denial than any other emotion. "Reid, hate to break this to you, but I took three bullets for this team already. He got to me through all of you."

"Yeah, about that," Garcia interrupted, typing away to pull up what looked like an itemized phone bill. "Someone had a tracker on your phone Rossi. I was wondering how the first unsub figured out where we would be training at. This guy must have been monitoring the calls to find Raine, and when you contacted her to come in..well, you know how that ended up."

"Let me guess," he started. "it traces back to a burner phone."

"You would win the game show," Garcia agreed. "Only problem is, it was only a tracer, meaning that whoever was watching knew the locations of the calls. They couldn't hear any of the calls, so how did he know where she would be?"

"The indide man," jJ answered. "He probably heard you were bringing in help for training and put two and two together. Offered to take care of the problem for him and failed."

morgan gave a small, sad laugh. "He almost succeeded. I have to admit tho, the trick you pulled, shooting through the wall? That was amazing."

Raine gave a true smile to that comment. "Maybe after this is over, I'll learn you a thing or two." She gave him a small wink as a joke.

"Alright, Baby Boo. I'll have to take you up on that," he agreed.

"Baby Boo?" JJ asked.

"Baby Girl is taken," Garcia quipted, laughing now.

"Too true," Raine agreed, snuggling into Reid. She was going back and forth between embarrassment at showing affection to the young agent, and realizing that she really missed having soeone that sshe could be completely comfortable with. It was nice to let her guard down once in a while.

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A commotion caught everyone's attention. Out in the bullpen, agents were pulling their weapons, drawing down on a lone figure, holding his hands in the air.

"I'm turning myself in," a deep voice shouted, trying to be heard above all of the yelling.

Hotch and Rossi were up first, each pressing their shoulders into the door frames to cover the room. JJ took up cover of the lone window in the wall, pulling down a small part of the shade to look through.

"I'm turning myself in," the voice hollered again. "I just want to see Miss Raine. I have a letter for her."

Raine looked up started, taping Reid on the knee and motioning for him to help her to her feet. He did under protest. Once she was standing, it took a good long minute for her to mainain her balance and work thorugh the pain before she could being the slow walk to the door. She made her way out into the foyer, flanked on each side by Hotch and Morgan. Redi and JJ brough up the rear While Rossi walked in front of the group.

The team made their way through the crowd until they stood almost toe-to-toe with the Unsub before them.

"Where is it?" Rossi questioned, pointing his weapon point blank at the other mans chest.

"Shirt pocket," the man answered, standing as still as possible with his hand still raised. "It's just a letter," he repeated.

Rossi was cautious as he reached forward, snatching the envelope out of the forementioned pocted and handing it backwards over his shoulder.

RAine was equally cautious, slowely taking the envelope and gently opening it. She pulled out a folded piece of paper, opening it up to find out something even more curious.

It was blank, but supprisingly shiny as if powder was laying on it.

"What the hell?" Morgan said out loud, looking over at the blank sheet before turning his focus back to the man in front of him. "Is this some kind of sick joke?"

The man gave an eerie smile, staring at Raine. "I win," he said, laughing impossibly loud. "I beat you."

"What are you talknig about?" Morgan said again, keeping a trained eye on him. "Explain."

"Let her tell you," he replied, grinning ear to ear. "Oh wait, she probably can't. By now she won't have any breath to talk."

Unfortunantly, he was right. Raine had dropped the paper to the floor, hands scratching at her throat as if she was trying to dig her nails straight through her flesh. Her eyes were paniced as she looked around frantically, her eyes landing on a pen laying on the closest desk.

She couldn't focus on anything but trying to breath. Her throat was closed completely shut as her allergy kicked in. She grabbed the pen in quick fashion, pulling off the cap and scribbling on a note pad.

Epi pen in bag, the small scrawl read. She tossed the note pad at Garcia while racing to the other side of the desk and tearing thruogh all of the drawers. She found what she was looking for finally, brandishing a pair of scissors in her left hand.

Garcia came running back, smacking two dark, thick blue pens into Raine's waiting right hand. Raine pulled off the cap to one and made quick fashion to jab it into her right thigh muscle before tossing the now empty cartridge onto the desk. Her mouth opened into a silent scream.

The seconds ticked by slowely, every person in the room waiting with baited breath to see what was going to happen. A few of them were nervously chattering, a few of them calling for ambulences and asking what was taking so long.

Raine was frantic. She pulled the second pen lid off before jabbing it into her thigh again, but she already knew she was past the point of epinepherine helping her. The powder was already down her throat and into her lungs. She needed to take extreme measures.

She spun around, her eyes almost unfocused while searching for Reid. Once she saw him, she snapped the scissors apart, handing him the end that was the sharpest while tilting her head back. She ran a finger down her throat, hoping he would know what to do. It was her only chance.

"The ambulence is on the way. ETA 10 minutes out," a random voice hollered.

Reid didn't even hear it as he grabbed the pointed scissor piece. "This is going to hurt liek hell," he said, placing his opposite hand behind her neck to keep her still. Ever so carefully, he punctured the fragile skin, pressing his fingers up along the blade to hold the cut opened while he dropped the scissors onto the desk and grabbed a random ball point pen. He bit off the base of the pen and yanked out the ink cartirage, shoving the now hollow tube into the opening.

A small wheeze escaped through the tube as he pressed his hand down, trying to create a tight seal with his fingers around her throat.

"Can you breath?" he asked, nervously waiting and praying he did this right. Even though everyone called him Doctor, a medical degree wasn't one of his qualification.

She couldn't talk or move her head, so instead she gave him a thumbs up.

Reid let out a shaky breath, letting his own head fall forward to press his forehead gently against hers in relief.

"Looks like you lose," JJ finally said, watching as the man was lead out of the building in handcuffs.

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It was three months later. The team had taken numerous cases, solving almost every one of them. Quite a few times one of the team members would ask about the fate of their falled friend, but never recieved any answers. Even Garcia, with all her skill and experience couldn't find out what had happened to Omen Raine.

They knew from hospital reports that she was in the intensive care unit for almost a week. Unfortuanante for them, the next day when Garcia checked, like she had the past six days, the records showed no known patient by that name. No patient. No files. No records of her ever having been there.

They kept checking, digging further and further to try and find out what happened. Was she alive? Was she dead? Was it all one huge hallucination that they all shared? Did any of it really happen?

The only way any of them knew it was real, was that they all remembered it. It was sad, to be completely honest. Garcia walked around like a lost puppy, having lost her new friend. JJ felt bad, knowing that she didn't really get a chance to get to know the other woman as closely as she wanted to. Morgan was outraged, angered that his baby-girl was upset, and curious to know what happened to her. Reid was the most heart-broken of all. His usual witty banter and all-knowing statistics just didn't trip from his lips as quick as they normally would.

Hotch and Rossi seemed to be the only members who were unaffected. Granted ,both of them felt bad about what had happened. She did get hurt because of them, but then again, she would have been a target even without them. Maybe her being there was just fate. They were very curious as to what happened to her after she left tho.

Life went on as normal for three months. Three long months of not knowing anything.

Garcia was the first one to know something was wrong. A random link was sent to her, interrupting her random web surfing of kitten pictures to change her background. She clicked on it, quite curious as to who would even know where to send a link to find her.

Upon opening it, she saw a farmiliar face, the caption around it said "Find me yet?"

At first a shock of terror ran through her, chilling her to the bone. Was this a message from an Unsub? Was Raine kidnapped? Were they being targeted again?

She shut the computer screen off, racing from the room and jogging quicklly in her heels until she reached the bull pen where the reast of her team was sitting, filling out paperwork from their latest case.

"Guys, guys, I just recieved a picture of Raine!" she said, quite vocally. "It said 'find me yet?' on it"

Five heads shot up quickly, paperwork forgotten momentarily. "Did you notice anything else about the picture?" Hotch asked seriously.

Garcia shook her head. "No sir. It didn't say anything else. It looked like a normal picture of her smiling."

"You didn't notice anything else strange about it?" Morgan asked again for clarification.

"No, nothing."

They all startled, spinning around to look up near the conference room as a new voice spoke. "Really Garcia? You didn't notice the big ass BAU windows in the backround? What type of profiler are you?" Raine teased, pushing herself away from the wall to begin walking down the stairs. "And here I thought the team would be better than that."

"Raine," Rossi breathed out, grinning ear to ear. He stood up to meet her as she reached the bottom step, kissing each side of her face in true italian fashion. "Don't you ever do that again. You had us worried sick!"

"Yeah, sorry about that," she admitted, lokking down at her feet sheepishly before meeting his gaze.

"What brings you back?" he asked.

She grinned at him before looking at the whole team. "Well...remember how you said that you owe me a favor since I got hurt? Well..." she trailed off with a smirk. It was good to be back.


	6. Chapter 6

Raine was sitting in the silent conference room, waiting for either Htoch or Rossi to come back and retrieve her. Both profilers had left her there while they went and spoke to their section chief about her joining the BAU. She was getting nervous, wondering why it was taking so long. Did the team not want her? Were they fighting about bringing her in, or arguing her case and trying to get her as a part of their team?

She was sitting in the room, straining her hearing for all she was worth to try and make out even a small part of the raised voices drifting from the room down the hall. Unfortunantly, unless she had the hearing of a bat or a wolf, she wouldn't be able to make out a single word.

"Hey," a voice whispered, seemingly coming from everywhere and no where all at once. "Hey over here. Look to your left."

Raine was confused, but followed the direction. She came face to face with a suddenly forming face staring back at her from the white screen along the far left wall. Garcia smiled at her, waving from her side of the computer that was being projected onto the overly-large screen.

"So, I did a little snooping," she started out. "I found out that the chief is a bit ticked off because the guys are trying to get you onto the team, but you don't have any paperwork to back up your claim that you even applied here. So..what's the deal? Did you really apply?"

Raine's mouth dropped open in shock. "Of course I did! I sent it in two months ago afoter I was released from the hospital!"

Garcia began typing, a stern look of concentration showing on her face before she frowned, looking ver confused. "No dice. Your application isn't on file in the system."

"But..I know I sent it in. I double and triple checked that it was sent, and I made sure to call and ask after the first week if they recie- oh wait. Oooh, I know what happened.." she tappered off, a look of embarrassment gracing her features.

Garcia nodded encouragingly. "Want to fill me in on your epiphany?"

Raine ducked her head before looking back at Garcia's eager face. "I changed my name when I got released for the ICU," she admitted. "I'm sorry, it was just such a habit. Every time I leave a case, I get a new identity, and I didn't really think it would matter to be honest. I submitted the paperwork and expected to get called in on my experiance alone, then I was going to explain my situat-"

"Girl, chill out," Garcia interrupted. "Just tell me your name and I'll pull it up."

Raine had the good sense to blush again. "It's a new identity, Penelope. Not my real identity. It would be under Brooke Rivers," she admitted quickly, trying to stop herself from rambling too much.

Garcia nodded quickly, fingers flying over the keys as she pulled up the proper documents. "Got it. Be back in a flash," she stated quickly, not giving Raine time to comment before the screen went dark.

She was once again sitting quietly, alone with just her thoughts as she waited for Garcia to come back onto the screen. Even tho she wasn't actually in the room personally, RAine was glad to have any distraction that she could. Sitting in silence made her mind wander to the worst case senarios. It set her nerves on edge.

"Back!" Garcia said loudly, the screen coming back to life barely a second later.

Raine actually jumped at the sudden intrusion, but tried to mask it by placing her head on her forearms, letting her hands fall down on top of her head to run through her hair. "What's the verdict?"

Garcia stayed quiet until Raine looked up at her. "I interrupted a very heated argument and gave Hotch, Rossi, and the section chief your paperwork and explained why there was the small glitch. Then the chief yelled at me to butt-out. Guess we gotta wait until they debate amoung themselves now."

Raine groaned, letting her head fall once again onto her arms. "Great. Just flippin great," she mumbled. "I can't take sitting here in silence much longer Garcia."

Garcia tapped her chin with a fluffy purple topped pen "I have an idea that you can help me out with, but I'm not sure it would be something that you would like to do. Want to have a go at it?"

Raine frowned, looking up at Garcia's hopeful face curiously. "Tell me what it is first. I'm not agreeing to anything without knowing the details."

Garccia readily agreed, nodding entusiastically. "Well, I can't go int othe back story of the person cause I firmly believe that it is their story to tell. However, I believe since you like this person, it would be okay to tell you a few part here and there."

raine motioned for Garcia to go on. "Okay okay, " Garcia admonished. "So my junior G-man had a pretty crappy childhood and never really had a great birthday party. Since he joined the BAU, we all tried to throw him small parties here and there each year, but it's never been a huge deal to him. To be honest, the past few years, he actually had to remind us that we missed his birthday. I don't want that to happen again this year."

Raine frowned, not because of the request, but because now she was worried for her friend. Exactly what the hell happened in his childhood that he never had a birthday? The guy was what...thirty? "So, exactly what do you want me to do, Penelope?"

Garcia sucked in a breath before rambling as fast as she could. "I was hoping you would be good at buying persents for children of all ages. I figured we could all pitch in and buy him a present for each year of his life and make it so that each toy would be for that year. Does that make sense?"

Raine thought for a good two or three minutes before answering. "I get your idea, but I think I have a better idea. I need to know when his birthday is, and if there are any places that him or the team can't or won't go to."

Garcia gave a quizzical look at that. "I don't understand."

"Well, like if one of you is afraid of clowns, we can't go to a fair or circus. If one of you hates the outdoors, we can't go out into the woods or anything. Make sense?"

"I don't see why you would go into the woods for a birthday parts, but I think I get where your going. And no, I can't think of anything that the team would be too afraid to do within reason. No childhood fears that I can recall."

"Okay, so I jsut need to know when his birthday is, and then I'll make a few calls. I'll let you know once I get everything sorted out and in place."

"Wicked," Garica breathed. "I knew I could count on you for this. To be honest, I wasn't really sure how to go abo-"

She cut herself off right in the middle of a long rambling point just as the door to the conference room opened. "Raine," Rossi said, leaning his head into the room. "Follow me."

Raine winced at Rossi's tone of voice. "Guess I'm in trouble Penelope. I'll get back to you later about that thing we just talked about."

Without another work she stood up and followed Rossi out of the room and down the corridor until they came to the section chief's office.

"After you," Rossi said softly, holding the door opened for Raine to walk through.

"Miss Raine," Hotch said, his deep voice rumbling out. "Nice to see you once again."

Raine leaned forward, shaking the hand Hotch offered. "I'd say nice to see you again too, but I feel like I'm in the principals office about to get kicked out of school."

Rossi gave a barking laugh, covering his mouth and pretending to couch to cover it up.

"Miss Raine," an unfarmiliar voice spoke, "If your done playing nice with people you've already sen today, take a seat."

She winced, turning around quickly and taking the first available chair she could reach.

"Miss Garcia was kind enough to deliever your correct paperwork, seeing as how you couldn't bother to submit it correctly the first time around."

Raine opened her mouth to speak. "I did submit the-"

"Does it look like I was finished speaking? No, I was not. Now, as I was saying... After reviewing the very long-winded application, I've agreed to bring you in to join the team on a trial basis. The last time you were here, it was complete mayhem. One toe out of line this go-round, and you will be fired immediately? Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal," Raine bit out harshly. She really did NOT like being talked to as if she were a child.

"Splended. Now on to a more importaint aspect of you worknig for this agency. Davis has filled me in about your history. While I don't give a flying leap what name you chose to go by right now, I need to insist that you have your real information on file for the bureau. This is not negotiable."

"With all due respec-"

"Not. Negotiable," was repeated once again.

Raine bit back the retort she desperately wanted to give. Instead she bit the inside of her cheek, counting to five before speaking. "Does it have to be on the computer systems, or just have one of the team know my true identity in the case of something happening to me?"

The section chief actually took a moment to prosess the question. "If your not going to have it on the systems here, you need to let at least one team member know, as well as myself."

"I can agree to that," Raine admitted after thinking it through for a moment.

"I'm going to assume that Rossi already knows, so if you gentleman would take your leave.."

Raine groaned, leaning her head back to look at the ceiling. "He doesn't know."

The section chief actually looked surprised at that. "David, you willingly brought someone into the BAU, not once, but twice. A person that you don't actually know. A person with no known history..."

"I've known her for fifteen years," David Rossi snapped, stopping the tirade before it really got going. "I would trust her with my life, along with every single person's life in this building."

"I can't allow this! If she can change her identity at will, how would any of us know if the one she gives us is the real one? No, no I simply cannot condone this."

Raine growled low in her throat, quite fed up with this conversation. "With all due respect, section chief," she bit out harshly. "I have never lied to anyone. Rossi can attest to that fact. I've always been up front and honest that my identity is fake. I've never lied about a case, or what I know or don't know. I could make up a fake life and do any damn thing in life that I wanted to do, but I chose to come here and put my skills to good use. You would think that you above anyone else would appreciate that fact."

Before any further arguing could take place, Raine tok out her phone and called Garcia. "Penelope, pull this up on your phone and send it to the chief. And don't you dare go marking or saving this for further use. I swear to god Garcia..." she trailed off, listening to the other girl answer quickly. "I will check later. Don't think that you can get one over on me. It goes to the chief, then you forget this ever existed."

She snapped her phone shut as soon as she hear a small ping coming from the computer in front of her. She watched as the section cheif pulled up the document that was sent, taking in each small nuisance of their face. It went from mild annoyance, to intereted, to an almost forlorn, solemn look of regret.

Finally, after a long period of silence, the chief glanced up. "Miss Ra-...I'm so, so deeply sorry. I had no idea that...that...This file is going to be erased. I promise. What will be know about you will only be things that you feel fit to tell other people. Any name and identity you chose to use will be fine by me. If there is anything you need, let me know and it will be accomodated."

"I don't have a need for anything special," Raine said softly. "I would just appreciate it if you make sure no one else ever find out what you just read."

"Done."

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Raine followed two very quiet older agents down the long hallways and into the open bullpen of the BAU. She was quite glad that the meeting with the unit chief was over and done with. She was also quite thrilled that the two agents with her always had a look of fierce determination plastered across their faces. No expression could be read from them.

"How did it go?" JJ questioned, looking up from the numerous case files stacked in front of her.

"It went," Raine said slowly, trying her hardest to keep her face neutral. "I'm uh...I'll see myself out."

Garcia came racing down the foyer, almost skidding to a stop in front of her. "No, oh no. Please tell me that you didn't get turned down. How could you haave been told no?!"

Raine shook her head sadly. "Garcia, I need to leave before I get yelled at. I was told to go home. I have a lot of things I need to get done anyways."

"But..but that's so not fair!" Penelope whinned. "Right guys? She's perfect for our team. I have half a mind to march up there and tell section c-"

Raine reached forward, grabbing Garcia's shoulders. "Penny, focus. I need to leave and get started on that thing you asked me to do. It's going to take me most of the day to get everything in place."

"I know that, but still. We won't get to work together, and we can't go out on lunches together, and we won't be able to do all the thin-"

Raine gave a small chuckle, shaking Garcia until she stopped babbling. Taking a quick look around to see all the sad faces, she finally relented. "Garcia... guys, listen up. I was told to go home immediately for a reason." Raine paused for dramatic effect, making sure each and every agent in the bull pen was focused on her. "I need to go home and get ready for tomorrow. I need to prepare for my first day at the BAU."


	7. Chapter 7

I don't own Criminal minds. If I did, I sure as hell wouldn't have time to sit here writing fiction. *smiles*

*******I haven't forgotten you guys. Posts are going to be sporatic for a few weeks. I just started a new job working at a prison. Crazy days ahead. Review and follow! ********************************

Raine leaned back on her chair until only the two back legs were left touching the floor. She stared at the ceiling, contemplating all the ways she could make the day a blast for one of her favorite new friends. It didn't help her nerves any that a few of the phone calls she had made over the past two weeks weren't returned. She really hoped that everything would work out the way she had planned it.

Leaning forward, she let the chair thump back to the floor and into it's proper position before picking up her new favorite neon green pen with purple ink inside of it. Tapping the pen tip along her keyboard, she pulled up the live video conference as she typed in Garcia's name.

"Hey girl, everything set for tonight?" she asked once the bubbly girl was looking back at her.

Garcia nodded, full of smiles. "You betcha. i managed to let everyone on the team know where to meet up and to be early. I'll bring him around about twenty minutes later so he doesn't suspect anything."

Raine nodded her approval, glancing to her left. "Pen, I gotta go." She clicked off the screen quickly as JJ, Morgan, Reid, Rossi, and Hotch came strolling into the BAU after their lunch hour.

"Girl, didn't you get anything to eat?" JJ asked, taking a seat across from her at her own desk.

Raine shrugged. "I had some last minute things to take care of. I'll grab something small to eat later."

JJ shrugged, then ducked quickly as Morgan yelled "Heads up!", tossing an orange over JJ's head to Raine. "To tide you over until you get to eat," he said simply.

"Thanks."

"Alright everyone," Hotch said, capturing everyone's attention. "Back to work. We need all these files done by the end of the night. Unless you want to come back in monday morning and finish them," he tacked on, looking around for anyone that would go against his wishes.

"Yes sir!" Four voices responded quickly. Rossi only nodded.

Three hours later, it was Rossi who spoke up first. "Alright, I'm calling it an early night. Maybe if I can get thorugh traffic quick enough I can get myself a fairly good dinner. Night everyone."

"Hey Rossi, hold up," JJ interrupted quickly. "Can you give me a lift? Will Dropped me off today and he won't be done his shift for another two hours."

"Sure thing. I'll meet you out in the truck."

Another half hour passed before Hotch stood up, announcing to the room that he was done for the day and that he would see everyone bright and early Monday morning.

Morgan was next in line to leave, stating that he had to get ready for a date he had set up for the night.

"Reid, aren't you going to leave?" Raine asked nonchalantly. "Do you need a ride or anything?"

Reid looked up from the file he was working on. "I need to wait for Garcia. She wanted to go out shopping to pick up a few gifts for Henry."

"Henry?" Raine questioned, not yet farmiliar with everyone's personal lives on the team.

"Godson," he said simply. "Myself and Garcia."

"Oh. Cool. How old is he? Actually, who's kid is he?" she asked, honestly curious.

"Sorry, I keep forgetting that you don't really nkwo everthing around here yet. JJ and Will have a 7 year old boy named Henry. JJ made Garcia and myself the god-parents."

"That's awesome," Raine admitted. "I would love to have a little one to spoil around holidays."

Reid looked startled. "You want kids?"

She felt a blush creeping up her face before she could even try and stop it. "N-no, I mean, I guess amybe if the right guy came along and the right circumstances, and uh...yeah I'm going to shut up now."

Reid gave a small chuckle, thankfully noticing how uncomfortable she was. He decided to change the subject. "Shouldn't you be heading out?"

Raine glanced at the clock on the wall before agreeing. "Yeah, I guess I should. I can grab a late dinner since I didn't have lunch today."

"Well, have a good weekend," Reid said, looking back down at his files. "Maybe one of these weekends all of us can hang out on our off time and get to know you better."

Raine nodded, picking up her satchel bag and slinging it over her shoulder. "Sounds like a plan. Have a good weekend Dr. Reid."

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Raine was walking in circles almost to the point of panic. She had to make sure every little detail was perfect since Reid and Garcia were due to arrive any moment.

She had set up a birthday party at a roller skating rink that she used to visit as a child. It was an indoor roller rink that you could wear either normal skates, or inline skates. No ice skates. It also had a ton of amusement games like skee-ball, pinball machines, racing games, and pool tables inside. At the very least, fifteen tables were set up on the opposite side of the building to use for birthday parties, along with a huge consession part where you could get drinks, pizza, nachos, chips...

All in all, it was an awesome place to have a party when you are a kid. Hell, she remembered hanging out there well into her teen years with her friends just because they enjoyed skating and the pizza slices there were amazing.

"Raine, you need to chill out. I'm pretty sure I saw smoke coming out of those skates a few times," Morgan chuckled out, grabbing the girl by the wrist as she passed.

"I need to make sure everything is ready for REid when they get he-"

"Raine, you managed to get over fifty kids here ranging from age four to nineteen, plus their parents. Hell, those two tables look like they are about to collapse with all those presents stacked up on them. He'll love this, I promise."

Raine nodded a little too quickly, "I know. I know. It's just that I'm really very nervous right now. I mean, I don't really know any of you, but Garcia asked me to set this up but she wouldn't really tell me anything about his past, so now I'm worried that I've done something wrong and I'll made him either very sad or pis-"

"Watch it," Morgan said quickly. "There are children present."

Raine nodded again, looking over Morgans shoulder with wide eyes as she spied the clock. "Damn, they should be here in two minutes. Alright everyone, listen up!" she holered, trying to capture everyones attention. "The birthday boy is going to be coming in and second. Now I want everyone to remember, his name is Reid and he is NOT a little kid. Don't make him feel weird or left out because he's having a party here, okay? Imagine how bad you would feel if everyone was making fun of you for having a party on your birthday."

A round of chatter began, each kid admonishing in theri own unique way that they would be on their best behaviors.

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Reid was taken aback when he arrived, but in all fun, he quickly got into the spirit of things. He had to admit he was really surprised, seeing as how the party was a full week before his birthday.

"That's why it's called a surprise party, Reid," Garcia admonished him with a bubbly laugh. "Now come on and open the rest of your presents!"

Reid agreed. So far he had recieved Playdough in every color imaginable (which he took care to remember in his head that he would give to Henry), an edible chemistry set, a whacky physics magic set (which he found very intruiging), two sets of walkie-talkies, tons of gift cards to book stores and electronic stores for books and headsets if he wanted to hear anything read aloud, a brand new camera with all the attachments, a new messenger bag that looked almost identical to the sscuffed up one that he always carried, and a gift card to his favorite clothing stores.

"This one is from me," Garcia said, handing Reid a bright neon pink envelope. Redi tore it open and watched as two rectangle tickets fell out. "Two tickets to see Shakespeare abridged?" he said, more of a question than a statement.

"Yep," Penelope stated. "It's a comedic take on Shakespeare, but trust me, you'll enjoy it."

"Don't you mean WE will enjoy it?"

Garcia shook her head. "You take whoever you want to, dollface. It's your gift to use as you see fit."

Redi nodded, thanking her before taking the next gift handed to him. "This is from me," Rossi said, handing him a fairly large box. Reid dug into the wrapping paper with joyful abandon.

"Thanks Rossi!" Reid said happily, looking into the box to see a six month supply of his favorite coffee and two huge bags of sugar.

"No problem kid. Now, I think you have one more present to open."

Reid looked around, wondering where the gift was and who had gotten him it. He was pretty sure every single person on the team had given him a gift so far, plus all the gifts the the children had brought with them.

"It's me," Raine said, swooping up along the right side of him She held out the present hesitantly, not really sure how he would take receiving a gift from her. "I uh...I don't really know you all that well, but since it's your birthday, I took a guess and figured that if you didn't like it you could just return it," she said sheepishly.

Reid took the small box, careful to unwrap the paper gently. It was strange to see since the last thirty or so odd presents he just tore the paper right off without a care. The small flat box was white with gold-leaf writting in a faded scrawl along the top of the lid.

' Kinder- und Hausmärchen, 1812'

Reid's mouth dropped opened in shock. It couldn't be...but it said...

He gently took the lid off the faded box, looking at the books cover. He ever-so-carefully replaced the lid and stood up, handing the box to JJ and asking her to be very careful with it, and if she would be so kind as to take it right out and secure it in the safe that was in the back of the SUV.

Once JJ left with the boxed book, Reid turned around and enveloped Raine into a tight embrace, giving her a small, soft kiss on her cheek. "However did you find it?" he asked ,pulling back while keeping his palm gripped to her shoulders. "That had to cost a huge fortune."

Raine blushed, ducking her gaze away from those intense hazel eyes. "It's from my personal collection," she admitted. "I couldn't think of anything that you might like that I could easily buy at a story on such short notice, but I figured that you might like that."

Reid moved his left hand to tilt her chin upwards, wanting her to meet his gaze. "Raine, I absolutely adore and love it. But I'm not sure that I can accept it. That book is a priceless thing to hold on to. I wouldn't feel right accepting such a thing from you."

Raine dropped her gaze again, taking a quick step back away from his touch. She had to admit, even if it was only to herself, that his words crushed what little hope she had. She thought that maybe, just maybe, he would have liked and appreciated the book. "I see. I'm sorry Reid. I really thought that you would have like it. I'll uh...I'll find you something else if you don't mind waiting a few days for it. Please don't be upset."

Reid, along with the rest of his team and much of the older kids and parents watched the pair interact with each other. It was heart-wrenching to watch. From the outside, everyone could tell that Reid turned down the gift because it was valuable and prescious. But they could also tell that Raine took him at his words and not his real intentions.

"Raine," Spencer Reid tried again, "Please look at me and listen to what I'm saying. I absolutely loved your gift. I can't accept it because of how very very rare the item is. I would never accept such a gift, even if it came from the president of the United States. Please, please understand that I'm not upset or mad."

She nodded, shoulders still slumped down dejectedly. "I understand, Dr. Reid. It's not a big deal. I'll get something else in a few days to give to you."

JJ chose that time to come back into the building, looking from one agent to the other quite confused. "What's going on?"

"Reid is trying to give her gift back to her and she's taking it the wrong way," Rossi whispered.

JJ nodded, not quite understanding the problem. "Um, Reid, what was the present, if you don't mind me asking?"

Reid chanced a glance at JJ. "An original Grimms fairtale from 1812 in the original German. It's an original print, JJ. Do you know how rare and valuable that is? It's probably the only one in existance that isn't locked up in some museum."

JJ nodded, finally understanding the problem. "Reid, can I talk to you alone for just one minute? It will honestly only take one minute, I swear."

He looked confused, but agreed, following JJ to the far corner of the building to have a talk.

Raine finally looked up, her emotions barely under control. "I'm going to go get the food guys. I'll be right back.

Everyone watched her wak away to find a few workers, directing them to bring the cake and pizza out for the party groups.

By the time Reid and JJ came back, Raine had her emotions completely under control, stuffed down into the little black part of her heart that nothing can get out.

"Raine, can we talk please?" Reid asked as he walked up.

"Oh good, your back," she said, smiling brightly at him. "Sit down, Birthday boy and cut your cake. Everyone is just dying to have their pieces. Is everyone ready to sing? Okay, on the count of three! One. Two. THree! Happy birthday to you. Happy birt-"

Reid sighed softly, letting everyone sing that annoyingly cheerful song to him while he waited to cut the enormous cake. All he wanted to do was talk to RAine and set things right between them once again, but apparently he wasnl't going to get that chance any time soon. He was resigned to his fate as he sat in silence, trying to smile falsely as the song came to it's end.

"Blow out your candles kid, and make a wish," Morgan smirked, placing a paper birthday boy cone on top of her head.

Reid took a small breath, closing his eyes sadly before blowing out the candles on a sigh. ' I wish I wasn't such a-'

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Authors note: The tickets Reid received for shakespeare is for "The complete works of william shakespeare: abridged," by The Reduced Shakespeare Company. It's entertaining, funny, educational, and awesome. Look it up on youtube or where ever and enjoy the next hour or so of your lives.


End file.
